Today's News

Galax took the lead in the first 80 seconds and never trailed Covington again, bouncing the Cougars 45-39 in the Region C Division 1 girls' basketball tournament semifinals Thursday at Parry McCluer High School.

Gasoline prices have shot up about 12 cents a gallon in recent days in Virginia, raising fears that pump prices will continue to escalate in the wake of ongoing turmoil in Libya and North Africa.
Political unrest in that region is unnerving traders in future markets across the globe, causing the trading floor to roil.
Leap-frogging another $14 since last Friday, crude oil futures reached about $100 a barrel in trading Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

A Galax woman was charged with malicious wounding after a fight Tuesday afternoon in the Walmart parking lot.
Galax Police Officer John Reavis arrested Demia De Quezada, 29, after a reported fight.
De Quezada is alleged to have stabbed George F. Flannary, 21, of Galax after an argument. She is being held in the New River Valley Regional Jail pending her appearance in the Galax General District Court.
Galax Police Chief Rick Clark said the victim, who was stabbed in the leg, refused medical treatment.

Galax Police Sgt. Earl Johnson, 51, who has worked at the department for 25 years, was charged with driving under the influence and refusal of a blood or breath test on Saturday morning.
According to Police Chief Rick Clark, Johnson was arrested by Officer Carry Woods of the Galax Police Department, who originally stopped the vehicle Johnson was operating for reckless driving on East Grayson Street.
The stop was made at 4:01 a.m.
Clark said Johnson was not on duty and was not operating a city-owned vehicle at the time of his arrest.

SALEM –– Junior Espinoza’s season ended with a celebratory leap into his coach’s arms. Blake Bowman’s high school career ended with a coach’s consoling pat on the back.

The only Twin County wrestlers to reach the championship round, Espinoza edged K.C. Cash of Riverheads in overtime for the Group A 112-pound championship while Bowman fell to Christiansburg’s Logan Bosley in the Group AA 135-pound finals Saturday at the Group A and Group AA state wrestling tournaments at the Salem Civic Center.

Harold Golding is chairman of the Southwest Region, Virginia School Boards Association Board of Directors

“The great aim of education is not knowledge, but action,” the British philosopher Herbert Spencer once wrote.
Today, I urge you to take action to help the education system in Virginia be as strong as it can possibly be. You can make a difference in the future of our children and in the welfare of our communities.
Are you aware that per pupil spending in Virginia has decreased by almost 20 percent since 2007?

INDEPENDENCE — Grayson County leaders will search the current budget for an additional $1,763 to transfer to the Department of Social Services, allowing the department to pull in additional federal money.
Betty Richardson, Grayson Social Services director, approached the board during its regular meeting Feb. 10 to ask for the additional money.

Old-Time Saturday Night, a new monthly concert series at the Rex Theater in Galax, is another opportunity for people to dance to old-time music at the historic downtown venue.
For several years, the Rex on East Grayson Street has hosted Blue Ridge Backroads Live, a concert series of bluegrass and old-time bands broadcast live on WBRF 98.1 FM on Friday nights.